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The FAA says it will issue a final order next month designed to prevent cockpit fires caused by the windshield heating element in some Boeing jets. NTSB leaders are critical of the FAA's time frame for the rule, noting that regulators have been promising action since 2004. "There is no shortage of information," says NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman. "In fact, there's no shortage of incidents. What's ... missing is the will to do something about it."

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As the investigation continues, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said investigators still have a lot of information to review before issuing a final report in the months ahead. "There's a lot of interest in it and we want to make sure that we complete this investigation as expeditiously as possible," said Hersman.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that a near collision between a regional airliner and a Cessna in Mississippi in June was the fault of an air traffic controller with a history of suspensions. The planes came within 300 feet of colliding after the controller cleared both for takeoff on intersecting runways. "While most individuals in the aviation industry are focused and professional, events like these continue to occur, which means there's still more work to be done to ensure that air travel is as safe as possible," said NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman.

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a report on the May 2010 windshield fire that forced an emergency landing of a Boeing 757. The report focuses attention on an electrical malfunction blamed for more than three dozen similar incidents over the past decade. The NTSB has urged mandating replacement windshields for older models of several Boeing jets, but the FAA has stopped short of such an order, instead requiring only stepped-up inspections for 757, 767 and 777 aircraft.

The National Transportation Safety Board says about 75% of the fatal airline accidents in the U.S. over the past 10 years could have been prevented with better flight simulators. Pilots do not receive sufficient training in in-flight emergencies such as an aerodynamic stall because most of the simulators currently in use cannot accurately reproduce such cockpit conditions, according to the NTSB. The board has endorsed updated simulator training for pilots, but the FAA says it prefers to stress training on avoiding such emergency conditions in the first place.

The National Transportation Safety Board is seeking routine access to cockpit voice recorders as a means of ensuring that pilots are following safety rules. "It is essential to understand what is going on in the cockpit if we are to achieve further reductions" in accident rates, NTSB Chairwoman Debbie Hersman told USA TODAY in defending the request, which is strongly opposed by pilot unions. The agency says the recordings could be reviewed anonymously to protect pilots' privacy while seeking to identify safety trends. Currently, cockpit recordings are used only in accident investigations.